Playa Bowls approved in Dewey Beach

Playa Bowls was given a unanimous go-ahead by Dewey Beach commissioners June 25, after a series of meetings and public hearings resulted in an ordinance approving the eatery’s conditional use and an additional ordinance amending town code requirements on eateries.

In April, town commissioners determined they could not approve Playa Bowls’ conditional-use application because town zoning code required eateries to provide a unisex, handicapped public bathroom, even though Playa Bowls owner Keith Mushinski said plans called for a takeout-only kitchen with no indoor or outdoor patron seating.

Town Counsel Fred Townsend said code would need to be amended before the application could be approved, so commissioners referred the matter to the planning and zoning commission, which voted in May to recommend that town council draft amendments to ordinances regarding eateries.

Before the June 25 vote, town code stated that eateries must provide at least one public bathroom, with no provisions for eateries that do not provide indoor or outdoor patron seating. Commissioners amended code to state that only eateries providing indoor or outdoor patron seating must provide at least one public restroom.

Mushinski said plans call for converting the T-shirt shop adjacent to the Bottle & Cork into the takeout-only kitchen that will serve smoothies, juices and acai bowls. Customers will order from a window on the building’s south side that faces a parking lot, Mushinkski said. 

Employees would access a bathroom via a door outside the eatery that leads to an office area and not the patron area of the Bottle & Cork, Mushinski said. Planned hours are 7 or 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday through Thursday, and possibly longer on weekends depending on crowds, Mushinski said. An opening date has not yet been announced.